Derby success keeps Hull KR in top flight

Tony Hannan

Monday September 03 2007, 10.57am, The Times

Tony Hannan

Monday September 03 2007, 10.57am, The Times

Hull Kingston Rovers guaranteed their place in the engage Super League next season with an astonishing 42-6 victory over Hull, their local rivals, at the KC Stadium yesterday, condemning Salford City Reds to relegation in the process.

A sell-out derby crowd watched in disbelief as the visiting team produced their biggest win of the season, with Paul Cooke, the Rovers stand-off, who so controversially moved across the city in April, the architect-in-chief of his former side’s downfall.

Hull KR led 16-0 at the break thanks to Jason Netherton’s 13th-minute opener and two Luke Dyer tries, as a desperately poor Hull side struggled to complete a set of six.

Cooke’s perfectly judged kick to the corner conjured the first of those scores and it was the